2of 9Volunteers handle a coffin during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The government has begun burying the hundreds of people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/ Manika Kamara)Photo: Manika Kamara, STR

3of 9Volunteers prepare during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Sierra Leone, Freetown, Thursday, Aug. 17 , 2017. The government has begun burying the 350 people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/Kabba Kargbo )Photo: Kabba Kargbo, STR

4of 9Volunteers handle a coffin during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The government has begun burying the hundreds of people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/ Manika Kamara)Photo: Manika Kamara, STR

5of 9Family members attend a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Sierra Leone, Freetown, Thursday, Aug. 17 , 2017. The government has begun burying the hundreds of people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/ Manika Kamara)Photo: Manika Kamara, STR

6of 9Volunteers handle a coffin during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The government has begun burying the hundreds of people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/ Manika Kamara)Photo: Manika Kamara, STR

7of 9Volunteers prepare to bury coffins during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Sierra Leone, Freetown, Thursday, Aug. 17 , 2017. The government has begun burying the 350 people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/Kabba Kargbo )Photo: Kabba Kargbo, STR

8of 9Volunteers handle coffins during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Sierra Leone, Freetown, Thursday, Aug. 17 , 2017. The government has begun burying the 350 people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/ Kabba Kargbo)Photo: Kabba Kargbo, STR

9of 9Volunteers handle a coffin during a mass funeral for victims of heavy flooding and mudslides in Regent at a cemetery in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017. The government has begun burying the 350 people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone's capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate. (AP Photo/ Kabba Kargbo)Photo: Kabba Kargbo, STR

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone - The president joined with families in paying final respects Thursday to victims of this week's mudslides and flooding in Sierra Leone's capital, while the government warned residents to evacuate a mountainside where a large crack opened.

Approximately 350 people had been confirmed killed and 600 more remained missing from the disaster early Monday. Workers struggled in the thick mud and debris of smashed homes looking for more bodies, picking their way through stools, shoes and other remnants of daily life.

The government hired 600 gravediggers for individual burials taking place in a cemetery that already holds victims of the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak that killed thousands in the West African nation.

"We all share the agony which has befallen the nation," President Ernest Bai Koroma told mourners at the cemetery.

"They had their hopes and aspirations, a bright future - like the six innocent children who went to study in the home of one of their brightest colleagues, like the young man who was due to get married tomorrow, like the husband who has worked so hard to get his family a new home and had just moved them to this new and lovely home," he said.

Dr. Owiss Koroma, the government's chief pathologist, said the confirmed death toll from the mudslide and flooding was at least 350, a third of them children. The bodies of many victims were too mangled and decomposed to be identified.

"I lost my sister and mother. The water took away my mother and sister and they have buried them today. That's why we are here, to mourn and go back home," said Zainab Kargbo, who was among those at the cemetery.

Thousands lost their homes in poor, low-lying areas of Freetown and surrounding communities.

With more rain forecast for the coming week, further mudslides were a threat. The Office of National Security warned people of the danger from the newly opened crack on the side of a mountain and urged residents to evacuate.

The main focus is getting people away from areas still under threat, said Zuliatu Cooper, the deputy minister of health and sanitation.

"The rains are still pending and there is a possibility that we will have another incident," he said. "We would rather have structures falling down without people in them."